Chapter 17: Rues

Aksel had definitely not expected his landing to be graceful but he also didn't expect it to hurt this much to fall on the grainy land below. Thankfully for his instinctual skills, he had loosened his body, tucked his chin in to save his head, and rolling on the ground he stopped himself by extending his arm out with his palm facing downward as he slapped the ground and came to a halt.

It hurt since it was his first time doing something like this and the small stones that had poked his skin wasn't exactly helping much but he was still able to quickly stand up when he heard Yve's cry. Looking up he saw her falling down as well and quickly positioning himself he spread out his arms to catch her but she glared at him to move away and she landed on the ground and rolled out into a crouched position much better than him.

"Did you really think that you could have caught me?" she huffed glaring at him and standing up she dusted herself and suddenly stopped in her movements looking around.

The momentary shock of what had just happened had taken away Aksel's mind from the present and remembering that there were people around him, he saw people with their faces covered by plain black masks standing in front of them.

They were five in number and Aksel could see that out of the five two were women. Aksel and Yve were definitely outnumbered and they noticed that these people had weapons with them that was glowing from whatever they were made of. He noticed that two of them had swords, another one had a double-sided spear, a second had a dagger and the last one had a bow and arrows.

Since they couldn't even see their face properly it was hard to say what these strange people were thinking but they sure looked intimidating and Aksel felt Yve move closer towards him as she said ever so softly, "It would be best to run."

Then she started a backward count and as soon as she said one the two started running towards the gate as fast as they could. Outrunning these people seemed difficult but they had to try.

"Stop!" a gruff voice called out and a second later Aksel felt something wrap around his feet and pull at it as he came crashing down. Yve who had been a few steps ahead skidded to a stop and came back to help him up but she saw someone approaching him and running towards him she landed a kick directly at the man's chest sending him stumbling back a few steps at the sudden attack.

In the meantime, Aksel stood up as well and Yve took out her staff jutting out from her bag as she held it out to fight while Aksel clutched onto a small knife to use it for his protection.

When another figure, a woman this time, the one who had been carrying a bow and arrow stepped forward Yve immediately pointed her staff in her direction to stop her from taking another step towards them as she said, "Don't come near us!"

The woman with black hair angled her head as if to assess them and then took a few steps back and stood with her partners. They looked like normal humans to them but the two couldn't be sure since they had witnessed many Exters and Contrivos that looked normal.

Aksel wanted to search for the Branding sign but they had been wearing clothes that covered their body completely and when Aksel and Yve tried walking away again they were suddenly stopped at the next words that they heard.

"Are you two unbranded?"

They hadn't yet felt real horror until now as they came to the conclusion that they were finally caught.

Aksel cussed in his mind as he realized that it was going too smoothly for any of it to be a reality. They were caught by the Branding System and that too just when they were so close to their freedom.

If they had been stopped just before entering this city then it must be because they might have been too close to discovering the truth and the outside world.

If only they could just cross over the gate then they would be safe.

"Tell us are you unbranded?" the woman with the arrows asked again and looking at them with the unsaid horror that he felt he slowly took a few steps back.

Yve noticed this and when their eyes met they were prepared to run in the direction of the gate again when he heard a sigh and no sooner did he turn his back than he felt ropes going around his body and caging him in its hold.

He fell again but in his fear to be taken back to Aquilo he started dragging his body towards the lighted city gate that was clearly visible from where they had been less than three hundred meters away.

Yve who had been free quickly came to his aid trying to rid him from the series of loops and tangles that he had been bound into.

She looked at the woman holding the small dagger and wondered how someone could be so skilled as to be able to perform something like this.

'Who were these people? Were they some kind of warriors or police that belonged to the system?'

She couldn't help but think and turning to them she shouted enraged as she said, "I am never going back to that fucking city! I am not going to let you control my mind!"

Suddenly she felt the tense air around her dissipate and she watched as the people lost their stance and stood more casually than what they were standing before while the lady who had the end of the rope in her hand loosened it as she said, "That was all we wanted to know. Geez, you two could have saved yourself some trouble if only you had spoken before."

'What did she mean?'

Aksel thought as he stood up and undid his ropes with Yve's help.

The woman who was carrying the bow lowered her mask and from her face, it was visible that she was older than the two of them as she said, "Sorry for how we stopped you but if I hadn't then by now you would have really been caught by the Branding System."

"What do you mean?" Aksel asked still wary of them and the woman noticed this as she smiled at him.

"I am sure you have many questions and we will answer them all for you but let me tell you one thing we are all unbranded over here so you don't have to be scared about anything," the lady said and although Aksel still didn't trust her he felt himself relax at her words.

"How can we trust you?" he asked looking over all of them and raising a brow at him the woman reckoned that this new guy wasn't as foolish as she had thought him to be.

"Good, you should know not to trust anyone in this world except us, unbranded people, but to prove to you that I am unbranded I can tell you that just by knowing that this world still consists of people like us should be proof enough. We are all for some reason rejected by the system and were then replaced by other people who are now living our life the memory of which is embedded in our brains."

'Well, what she said is true.' Aksel thought for no branded people knew about their existence and in their eyes, they had always ever been termed as criminals. Her words and knowledge about them were enough to eliminate any doubts but he still wasn't going to let down his guard as he asked, "Are you all from Aquilo as well?"

"No, we are from Novus, this city here and you should come with us too," the girl who had him tied by the rope chirped pointing to the city near them and Aksel came to the realization that the branding system might be more spread out to many different cities than he had reckoned it to be.

"Are there more of the unbranded people?" Yve asked trying to come to her own conclusions of how much she should trust them.

"Yes, there are more of us and we don't call ourselves 'unbranded' we call ourselves Rues," The man with the gruff voice carrying the sword corrected her.

Stepping forward the woman with the bow and arrow smiled and said, "You are a Rues as well and we welcome you to come and join us. We promise you that you will be safer there."